Ken Levine: 2011 the best year for games since 2007

2011 was the best year for games since 2007, BioShock creator Ken Levine believes.

It's "a year to be proud of," the Irrational Games chief told Eurogamer.

"I always make time for games," Levine said.

"That's important. If you're not playing games you're compromising your ability as a game developer to make good games.

"It's been an interesting year. It's the best year since - and I'm not just saying this because of my game - 2007. A lot of great games, like Portal, came out that year. It's the best year in a very long time.

"There have been a ton of games I've been playing. I play more games right now mostly because there's just so much good stuff to play."

The critical acclaim these games received has been met by blockbuster sales - with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 breaking not just video game sales records, but entertainment launch records.

2007 also set sales records and saw the release of a number of critically acclaimed games, including the ground-breaking Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Bungie's Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy, and the introduction of a number of new IPs, including Valve's Portal (bundled with The Orange Box), Mass Effect and, of course, Levine's own BioShock.

"[2011] is a year to be proud of our industry," Levine, currently working on 2012's BioShock Infinite, continued.

"It's a year to be proud of the Uncharted guys. It's a year to be proud of Epic. It's a year to be proud of the Call of Duty guys. It's a year to be proud of everybody because people are delivering this year in a way the industry hasn't delivered in a very long time."